D&D 5E Uses for Minor Alchemy

[Plaguescarred]

You could for exemple transform up to 1 cubic foot of copper from a large statue into silver for each 10 minutes spent performing the procedure. Or an iron weapon into silver to fight creatures specifically vulnerable to it.

I don't think it necessarily last up to 1 hour though, its not worded like a spell duration of ''concentration, up to 1 hour'', but instead says;

''After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you w ere concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.''

 

[Stalker0]

Given that most of the 2nd level wizard features are very useful on a regular basis, it definitely needs either a bit of a boost or the most liberal interpretation possible of each element.
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Minor Alchemy is definately weaker than Minor Conjuration...but I think the 6th level transmuter stone makes up for it. That is a damn handy power.

 

[MarkB]

I don't think it necessarily last up to 1 hour though, its not worded like a spell duration of ''concentration, up to 1 hour'', but instead says;

''After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you w ere concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.''

I agree - I tend to interpret that as meaning that the material will revert as soon as you stop concentrating on it. It parses poorly, though - take out the "after 1 hour" part, and the statement reads "Until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance" - which makes no sense at all. Presumably, it's supposed to mean that it remains transformed until you lose concentration, to a maximum duration of 1 hour.

What I'm not so sure of is when to start the clock on the duration - if you concentrate for 10 minutes, in order to transmute 1 cubic foot of material, I presume the timer starts the moment you succeed at the transformation, not the moment you start concentrating.

But what if you concentrate for 30 minutes, transforming 3 cubic feet of material. Does the transformation begin at the end of those 30 minutes, and then last for an hour - or does the first cubic foot transform after 10 minutes, and then revert an hour later, with the rest of the material following at 10-minute intervals?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Minor Alchemy is definately weaker than Minor Conjuration...but I think the 6th level transmuter stone makes up for it. That is a damn handy power.

All of the rest of the transmuter powers are definitely pretty nice. I just would hate to be dissatisfied with a 2nd level ability that is only occasionally useful, compared to all of the other schools with 2nd level abilities that get put to good use frequently.

 

[thomp102]

Is Sand considered Stone? I could think of a few times turning something a solid something like a weapon or door or drawbridge panel into sand could be a real useful activity.

And while the wording says for every 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can convert 'up to 1 cubic foot of material'. What it doesn't say is that you have to perform the procedure for the full 10 minutes to get the result, just that 10 minutes of procedure will get you 1 cubic foot of converted material. 1 cubic foot of material is 1,728 cubic inches of converted material. If I'm working on a door, or a pillar, or a drawbridge, I'll probably need those 10 minutes, but what if I'm working on a weapon, or something small? There are 600 seconds, or 100 combat rounds, in 10 minutes. Broken down, that means I could convert 17.28 cubic inches of material per combat round. That's not a lot, but it's enough to mess with a weapon (say that approaching longbow arrow or crossbow bolt or javelin), or possibly the footing under an approaching enemy. Or the hinges or lock on a door (no more picking locks...).

What's not clear is what the 'alchemical procedure' is. Is this similar to throwing a spell? Is there apparatus involved? Are there specific materials required? If it's similar to throwing a spell, and you're just repeating the spell over and over to get a larger result field for the length of time you want, why not be able to 'throw' a quick one for a small result, particularly if you only need to transmute it for a short period of time? Once whatever it is has fallen apart, who cares if it goes back to the original materials?

 

[Savage Wombat]

No Critical Role references?

Caleb and Nott demonstrated a magic bowl, that could turn copper pieces into silver on command. Caleb (the transmuter) put a copper coin into the bowl, and then activated it to turn the copper instantly to silver. The con, of course, is that Caleb used his power to turn a silver coin to copper, so that he could dispel it at will. He then offers to sell the magic bowl to a mark for a few gold pieces.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Turn the business ends of the party's weapons to silver when you encounter a lycanthrope.

Probably not around, but this is good. Here's a seven-year-belated "like" for ya.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

A sacred icon of the trader deity in the shop would be enough to avoid that type of scams. With transmuter magic you could create a coin, but the drawning would be too bad to can trick.

Other thing would be to use transmuter for other things without a neccesary previous shape, for example salt, pearls, mineral crystals or even jewels. Here the trader would pay, but really he would be buying the "residium" in that objects, to be used later to craft other magic objects, for example magic healing bandages (cheaper than potions but slower effect).

 

[EroKun]

my DM allowed me to change iron cuffs into stone and iron cage bars into stone bars as long as it was 1 Sq foot. makes it allot easier to escape. and in same game made the mast of a ship brake cos stone apparently is not as malleable as wood, and a strong wind just make it go Crack..
oh and pro tip.. dont turn the barbarian axe into wood for kindling got me killed. poor Gob TeaMaster was was to young.. lvl 5 R.I.P

 

[Vaalingrade]

Locks are single items made of (usually) iron.

 

[Galandris]

This twice-raised thread merits however, a question. Is turning a select stone pillar to some common material like balsa enough to collapse a significant part of a build over the duration of the spell? Or would the frailty of the load-bearing element produce effect after a long time?

 

[kigmatzomat]

It only works on 1 cubic foot of material, the material has to be entirely of one type off a short list, it doesn't mention reshaping the item, only changing it from one form of matter to another, like iron into wood. It also only lasts 1 hour and requires concentration, all in all very limiting.

I think it can do larger objects, you just have to spend the time.

"For each 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can transform up to 1 cubic foot of material. "

This says to me, a wizard could turn a massive stone statue to wood if they spend a couple uninterrupted hours.

Interesting way to take down a castle by weakening a foundation stone. Or by turning a wooden roof beam to iron, possibly collapsing a ceiling.

 

[Tonguez]

Minor Alchemy should be a cantrip not a subclass ability

• one object composed entirely of wood, stone (but not a gemstone), iron, copper, or silver, transforming it into a different one of those materials.
• For each 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can transform up to 1 cubic foot of material.
• After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.

so no gold and no sand (silica crystals)
Not really useful for much but a few minor tricks, breaking locks and chopping wood is about it

 

[aco175]

Turn water into ale. When it turns back into water you will hydrate instead of being dehydrated. Also after the hour, you will instantly sober up.

 

[Tonguez]

Turn water into ale. When it turns back into water you will hydrate instead of being dehydrated. Also after the hour, you will instantly sober up.

Doesnt work on water, which is a major oversight really

 

[Mad_Jack]

This twice-raised thread merits however, a question. Is turning a select stone pillar to some common material like balsa enough to collapse a significant part of a build over the duration of the spell? Or would the frailty of the load-bearing element produce effect after a long time?

Not really. Causing serious structural damage to buildings usually requires high-level spells.
Most buildings generally won't collapse if they lose a single load-bearing structure like a pillar, and turning one pillar or a part of a wall to a softer substance for an hour (or even a day) wouldn't really damage it much due to material stress - for things like that to be seriously damaged, you need a lot of stress over a lot of time... Most buildings that collapse do so due to serious material fatigue over the course of decades.
In order to sabotage a stone building, you'd have to repeatedly spend several hours transmuting load-bearing sections of the building materials into a softer substance and damage them with some other method so that they remain damaged/destroyed when they revert back. It would probably take an entire week or more of work to get a sizeable enough area of the building weakened enough that it would have even a chance of eventually failing structurally due to material stress, depending on the construction and materials involved and what method you're using to damage them. Which may or may not be enough to cause any undamaged areas to fail as well.

So there's not much chance of succeeding at dropping the dungeon's ceiling on some goblins while they're sleeping, but if you can spare several weeks of uninterrupted time hanging out in the sewer tunnels under a building, you could theoretically weaken the material above you enough that it would eventually collapse, potentially bringing the building above it down as well. Which is more of a plot device sort of thing rather than a strategic plan for adventurers, but still...

Minor Transmutation is, however, a perfectly feasible way to knock a simple hole through a stone wall if you have the time to do it and sufficient oil/fire, damage cantrips or an axe... Or to get into a locked iron strongbox if you can't pick the lock.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Most buildings generally won't collapse if they lose a single load-bearing structure like a pillar, and turning one pillar or a part of a wall to a softer substance for an hour (or even a day) wouldn't really damage it much due to material stress -

True, and not true. Switching from a rigid material like stone or iron to a flexible material like wood has implications any time you have loads that can cause wood to split (plus, it does burn). And for any tall pillars where the slenderness ratio(kl/r) is a factor. It is entirely plausible for a wood column to flex and split. If the pillar held up an arch, you start to destabilize the structures. With a column & beam you would use the longest side and start deforming a central column, then the adjacent columns that could sag more, then go back to the center to flex it again until the load splits the column work from center to edges.

It is not the fastest approach in the world but it requires no spell components or spell slots.

And of course, survival is very suspect when taking down a ceiling from the inside. I suppose a vampire transmuter would be the ideal practitioner of this form of demolition. Lots of time and can turn to mist.[/quote][/QUOTE]

 

[Storyteller Hero]

Due to the temporary and timing-capable nature of the material change, it may be possible to set up traps for enemies with some careful rigging.

 

[humble minion]

Doesnt work on water, which is a major oversight really

I think it’s deliberate, rather than an oversight. You could destroy almost anything by turning a carefully chosen square foot of it to water.

It you really want to rules-lawyer horribly, you could try to convince your DM that magma is a kind of stone.

Other than that - you could easily weaken objects by turning them to balsa wood, or soft crumbly mudstone/shale or lignite. But it takes 10 minutes, and given that amount of time you could usually achieve the same with an axe or pick.